The present invention relates to a disposable support for containers for treating biological samples in cytocentrifuges.
Containers commonly known as cuvettes are already known which are constituted by a vertical flat resting base from which a wall protrudes at right angles, said wall supporting one or two funnels that are connected, in a lower region, to corresponding horizontal connection channels.
Such containers are used to treat biological samples by way of the cytocentrifugation technique.
To do so, the containers are rested, with a filtering card interposed, on a microscope slide and the assembly is reversibly fixed inside a cytocentrifuge.
For this purpose, the cytocentrifuge is provided with supports, each of which is currently constituted by a contoured steel element that forms a flat supporting body with raised edges in order to accommodate in succession the slide, the filtering card, and the base of the container, which are fixed thereto by means of a spring-loaded device constituted by a metal wire shaped like an inverted letter U, which is articulated with its lower ends to the flat body and can be rotated so as to be arranged substantially parallel to it and engage suitable tabs that protrude from the edges.
On the opposite side with respect to the engagement means, the body has a transverse pivot for fixing to the cytocentrifuge.
Cuvette supports are therefore an integral part of the centrifugation machine, and since they are the elements that make direct contact with the containers the supports must be very well cleaned for each individual test to be conducted.
This naturally causes problems in terms of the time required for cleaning and does not provide absolute certainty that the cleaning is perfect.